Macao Health Services have begun to take communicable disease
control measures against norovirus and dengue fever after
confirming several cases of infection.
At least seven children between the ages of three months and one
year, all enrolled at St. Joao Day Care Center, have fallen ill
with vomiting and diarrhea over the past week. Four of them have
tested positive for norovirus.
Thursday's Macao Post reported that none of the sick
children have become ill enough to require hospitalization.
As soon as the first symptoms were discovered on November 5, the
day care center was closed and thoroughly disinfected, and parents
instructed to keep their children at home.
Meanwhile, a woman aged 51 contracted dengue fever this month,
the second case confirmed this year in Macao. The authorities have
ordered mosquito abatement measures over a 200 square meter area
around her home.
Health services predicted in April that dengue fever would
probably reemerge this year, as it tends to follow a pattern of
breaking out every three to four years.
Macao's government launched an anti-dengue fever campaign from
April to mid-June to disinfect empty houses, remove build-up of
trash and help citizens better understand prevention measures.
(Xinhua News Agency November 12, 2004)